We're off to Shanghai!

This trip has one main purpose and that purpose is to tick off the last Disney Castle for the family. After completing this feat in Jan 2016 with Tokyo Disney Resort, Shanghai Disneyland was opened in June of the same year. What better excuse than to take a week break overseas!

The 11 hour to Shanghai was fortunately uneventful. The new self-serve immigration at Sydney airport was quick and easy. The Qantas plane comfortable enough and had a convenient USB port for charging devices. We accidentally stumbled upon being able to pre-order our meals pre-flight. This translated to us being served our meals before everyone else! This advantage translated to having access to the restrooms before the traditional post-meal visit by the masses. With noise-cancelling headphones on, I concentrated on watching as movies as possible. Five isn't too bad...The only lowlight was that the Weiss ice-cream bars that were handed were so well frozen (not sure what super freezer Qantas has onboard!) that my lips got stuck to them! And parts of my poor mucosa were ripped off in the process of detaching myself from my dessert.

A little early at the airport! Immigration and security took next to no time. Our traditional McDonalds is sadly no longer there!

An apt breakfast considering our final destination

Our plane

 There was heavy fog and clouds in Shanghai so not much could be seen on approach and landing. Before we knew it, we had cleared immigration and customs. We strode towards the taxi rank and asked for a taxi for 5. There was some anxiety as it was a 40 minute ride from the airport to our hotel and we were under the impression that we had to take 2 taxis. Lo and behold we shuttled into one normal taxi with myself and 3 children in the backseat and Malcolm in front. The ride cost us a total of 147 CNY (about AUD30). Bargain!

Our base in Shanghai is the Grand Kempinski Hotel. Our rooms on the 16th floor gave us a view that was much nicer than was expected! And we were glad that the rooms were spacious and well appointed. We walked briefly around our hotel but what we could see was limited by the weather and the fact that the children were on the verge of falling asleep. A light supper from 7-11 was going to be best we could at short notice.

We purchased Express VPN for internet access and so far this has worked well with both phones and laptops. We were able to access facebook, the google family of sites, and whatsapp with no difficulty.

The lobby of our hotel. Check in was quick.

Funky lights!

The offering at the front desk! Bringing back fond memories of my childhood

Our lovely rooms

Our window view! Shame about the weather but this would be great to look out off on a clear day!

That was how the famous Oriental Pearl Tower looked like and as much as we could see when we went on our walk!